FIRESTORM (风暴) DVD (2013)




SYNOPSIS: A crew of seasoned criminals led by the notorious Nam (Hu Jun), armed with high-powered weapons, pulls off another smooth and violent armored car heist in broad daylight in a crowded street. Senior police inspector Lui (Andy Lau), hot on the trails of Nam and his tight crew, is determined to put an end to this madness. Tou (Lam Ka Tung), an ex-convict desperate to leave his criminal past behind, volunteers to be Lui's snitch in exchange for a fresh start with her girlfriend Bing (Yao Chen). But little does he know what a hellish situation he's getting himself into. While Nam is putting together his next big score, the two colliding forces from both sides of the law, each at the top of their games, will soon culminate in an ultimate confrontation on the streets of Hong Kong.

MOVIE REVIEW:

HK superstar Andy Lau appeared in three movies alone in 2013. First was a middling outing in Johnnie To’s Blind Detective followed by the widely penned Switch. Firestorm luckily ended the year with a bang for the hardworking actor as the shoot-em-up, action thriller was also co-produced through his Focus Films production outfit.

While director Alan Yuen isn’t consider a newbie in the movie industry given his vast experiences as a writer, Firestorm is his first major solo directorial and self-penned effort. And the result is astonishing.

We are stoked to see a major part of the city destroyed in the trailer and the actual results are even more impressive. Bigger is indeed better in this case as we witness the busy central district being turned into a war zone by a gang of merciless robbers led by Paco (veteran actor Ray Lui).

The movie opens promisingly with an elusive, smart mainland crook Cao Nan (Hu Jun) planning a series of robberies with his ruthless henchmen. Inspector Lui (Lau) is bent on catching him despite the frequent lack of evidence that Cao is at the scene of the crime. It’s true that Yuen’s scripting is far too ambitious to be squeezed into a less than two hours movie. One glaring mistake is that the character of Cao is mysteriously abandoned in the second half of the movie for Paco which in turn is a predictable flimsy villain with no brains.

Always in the shoes of minor supporting roles, Gordon Lam finally has the opportunity to shine as Bong, Lui’s ex-schoolmate who has since turned into a life of crimes. He is given much screentime here opposite Lau as the duo battles emotional aspects and a hair-raising fight down a building. Mainland actress Yao Chen plays Bong’s long-suffering girlfriend, a formulaic character that achieves far more mileage than expected. Philip Keung once again scores another memorable supporting role as Lui’s stool pigeon with a touching subplot that involves his autistic daughter.

Yet again it’s Chin Ka Lok’s action choreography and rather convincing visual effects courtesy of Free-D workshop that saves the day. The evergreen HK cop and robber action thrillers are given a huge boast despite Yuen’s shaky storytelling of a righteous law enforcer turned rogue. The action-packed spectacles are awesome enough to compensate for it.        

SPECIAL FEATURES:

NIL

AUDIO/VISUAL:

Images and colours are clear and detailed. For this title, the sole inclusion of a Mandarin 2.0 soundtrack is clearly a letdown. 

MOVIE RATING:



DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee



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 ABOUT THE MOVIE

Genre: Action/Thriller
Starring: Andy Lau, Gordon Lam, Yao Chen, Hu Jun, Ray Lui, Kenny Wong, Michael Tong, Grace Wong, Terence Yin, Oscar Leung, Vincent Sze, Sammy Hung, Patrick Keung
Director: Alan Yuen
Rating: NC-16 (Violence And Drug Use)
Year Made: 2013

 SPECIAL FEATURES

- NIL

 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Languages: Mandarin
Subtitles: English/Chinese
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0
Running Time: 1 hr 45 mins
Region Code: 3
Distributor: InnoForm Media